Boxer of All Trades
by Ziposaki
Summary: Shiori Matsushima wanted to do everything before she graduated from high school. An opportunity for love, tennis, and a hint of stalking? She couldn't pass that up. However, she didn't have time (or ambition) to focus on anything intensively besides boxing, her pet sport. Not even ten tennis-crazed boys and one tennis-crazed girl were going to change that.
1. Chapter 1

"You've never had a crush on someone, ever?" Hitomi Tsukino demanded, spitting rice from the corners of her mouth and onto her Seigaku uniform as she talked. She stabbed her chopsticks at the girl across from her, presumably in a way meant to be menacing.

"I don't know why you keep asking this question, Hitomi. You ask it every day," lamented Shiori Matsushima, contemplating nicking some of her friend's food. She had finished her food in a flash, even though it had tasted pretty bad. Cooking was not her specialty.

"And you never answer, which is why I keep asking it," Hitomi emphasized.

Shiori rolled her eyes. "I don't know how we became friends in the first place..." she muttered before pausing for a second. "Sorry." Her eyes deliberately remaining on her nonexistent food.

In. Out. In. Out. Shiomi counted twenty three breaths (Hitomi's favorite number) before she spoke up again. "Its fine. Now..."

Hitomi gestured wildly, trying to make her point. Shiomi sighed, before responding. It's not like it was a big deal, anyways.

"There was this one guy I taught at the gym. Kiyosumi Sengoku. Curly orangey-red hair. Blue eyes. Lucky. We went on one date. Done," Shiori abbreviated, easily summing up him and everything that had happened. "Still pretty good friends, though."

Hitomi watched Shiori carefully, her eyes wide with disbelief. After a moment, she squealed. "You still like him!" Hitomi squealed.

"What?" Shiori asked, before touching her cheeks and finding them slightly hot. "Oh." She didn't realize she had been blushing. Emotions easily weaved her way onto her face a lot, and by now she wasn't even aware. It kind of made her seem like an ignorant freak, but whatever. "Well, I mean, yeah, I guess. I mean, he was my first crush. Aren't they supposed to hold a special place in your heart or something really sappy like that?"

Hitomi stared Shiori down, looking for a trace of her being kidding. "You really don't care, do you? You totally still like him! You should find him! Tell him!" Hitomi demanded, slapping her hands down on the table.

Shiori held up her hands in surrender. "Whoa! Calm down!" she yelped in reply. "I don't know much about him. I don't even know what school he goes to."

"You're good friends but you don't know what school he goes to?" asked Hitomi skeptically, carefully placing the rest of her food in her mouth.

"It never came up," Shiori shrugged. Hitomi nodded in a "sure-I-totally-believe-you" kind of way before deciding, "You should go try and find him! You know, figure out what school he goes to and what he does, like a detective!"

"More like a stalker," Shiori replied easily, upset she had missed her chance at Hitomi's food. She was hungry, dang it, and her food was terrible.

Hitomi frowned at Shiori's reply. "What, you want to do everything, right? Why not stalking? It's not like he'll particularly care or anything. I think."

Shiori decided not to point out the obvious problems with stalking somebody, and instead took a different route. "How am I supposed to track him down, anyways? I doubt he's so famous he'd pop up if I searched for him on the internet or something. It would be a giant pain in the neck."

Hitomi paused. Shiori took the moment to display a triumphant grin before Hitomi spoke up again. "Inui-senpai!"

"Who?" Shiori replied instantly, searching her brain before curving her mouth into an O. "Oh, isn't he that guy on the tennis team?" The team had won Nationals recently, and there was huge uproar in celebration.

"Oh yeah, he's on the tennis team!" Hitomi exclaimed, before giving a crooked smile. "I pretty much just conked out at that party-thingy, but I sorta remember his name from it. Anyways, I know him from chemistry club."

"Chemistry club?" Shiori blinked. She didn't realize Hitomi did much of anything out of school. She was always really lazy, despite her relatively good intelligence.

Hitomi nodded slightly. "Yeah, I got roped into it somehow by circumstances I choose not to remember. It's pretty fun though. Inui-senpai's in charge of it. He's kind of creepy, and he always brings a ton of fresh produce for some reason and blends it up into these weird concoctions. He gives me some when I ask, though." Hitomi grinned. "He always has the best apples. So sour."

"Okay, so Inui-senpai is the creepy Chemistry club president on the tennis team that bribes you with apples," Shiori summed up. "How does that help me potentially stalk Sengoku-kun, if I'd even do it?"

"He has data on a lot of people, even from other schools. He kind of instinctively takes notes on people he sees without realizing, and saw a lot of schools when he was playing tennis. Maybe he has data on Sengoku-kun, even if its just a little," Hitomi replied with a knowing grin, internally celebrating her victory (even though she wasn't even sure that she had won).

"Oh, so I'm supposed to stalk somebody with information from the king of stalking," Shiori replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "That's cool. Anyways, isn't it sort of weird if I walk up to him and ask about some guy he may not even know?"

Hitomi looked as though the thought had never occurred to her. After a moment, she declared, "It's worth the risk. Now, will you come with me to Chemistry Club today? You don't have any boxing practice, right?"

"Nope," Shiori replied with a shake of her head. That was a lie. There was actually some guy she was supposed to be teaching the basics to, but he was kind of stuck up and was only doing it to prove his superiority. Her dad could deal with him. "I guess I'll go."

Hitomi did have a point, stalking was a good idea for an activity (despite its questionable legality). It wouldn't hurt, probably. And as her friend internally victory-danced in her chair, squirming around like an idiot, Shiori just hoped she didn't jinx herself.

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**Whee, first PoT fanfic! I'm excited (and slightly scared). Please don't be afraid to review with criticism, but don't flame. Also, I need a beta. If you are willing to deal with me, you can PM, though be aware I am actively searching for one myself. Oh yeah, I'm also using English name order (first then last), so that's why it is Kiyosumi Sengoku.**

**Disclaimer: Yeah I don't own Prince of Tennis. I only wish I could draw that well.**


	2. Chapter 2

Classes passed by in a blur, probably because Shiori wasn't paying an ounce of attention. Her teachers seemed to have an incredible aptitude to teach the same things over and over and somehow make it even more boring than the last time. Soon enough, she had Hitomi strolling besides her, easily guiding them to the chemistry lab Shiori didn't even realize existed.

"Whoah," Shiori gasped quietly, glancing about. "This is not as nerdy as I thought it would be." The room was meticulously clean, with various equipment scattered about and different chemicals with skulls slapped on them stuffed in cabinets. It sort of reminded her of a giant kitchen, but deadlier.

Hitomi elbowed her friend in the ribs, before strolling inside as if she was completely at home. People didn't even glance up, instead each of them at work on various projects. This was clearly not a social club.

Hitomi called to Shiori, pulling things out of drawers, "Inui-senpai should be here after tennis practice, Shiori. He said he was going to stay over and experiment today, so he is coming. Meanwhile, you can do your homework or something on one of those tables." She pointed at a table shoved in the corner, far out of the way. Shiori sighed, and followed her friend's orders, pulling out a math test she had done poorly on to review it. She did at least know she was out of her element here.

**oOo**

An hour later, Shiori had come to five conclusions:

1. Much to her surprise, this was a surprisingly social club as people talked about nerdy, criminal things like this or that dangerous chemicals thanks to...  
2. Hitomi was the sort of social butterfly of the chemistry geek world. She knew Hitomi was pretty passionate about stuff (which apparently included chemistry), but she was pretty quiet compared to some of the fangirls. 3. She couldn't count. Oh come on, 32 - 19 was totally 23, after all.

Shiori bit the bottom of lip. Shoot, sarcasm, and a lot. It was even part of her internal voice, dang it! Needing a break, she gently strolled over to Hitomi who was now fiddling with a suspiciously transparent, peach colored liquid.

"Hitomi," Shiori whined in the most deadpan voice she could muster. Hitomi gave nothing but a "hm?", carefully dropping in two pinches of a clear powder that turned the peach colored liquid into a peach colored goop. Shiori looked a bit disturbed, but barreled on. "When's Inui-senpai going to be here, anyways?"

"Well tennis practice ends in another hour..." Hitomi trailed off, prodding her mixture with a wooden dowel. Tugging it out, it was chemically singed. With a frown, Hitomi easily strolled off to pluck some new ingredients to do who-knows-what, waving to someone who was leaving at the same time, leaving them the last two in the lab.

"Another hour?!" Shiori demanded. "You didn't tell me it would take that long!" Who practiced for two hours on end? she thought, ignoring the fact that she suggested the very same length of practice for some of her boxing students.

Hitomi opened her mouth to say something, but shut it after a moment. "You know what, it's not worth arguing with you," Hitomi decided, carefully adding two drops of water to her substance to thin it. "You never listen to other's opinions after you've shared yours."

"Huh?" Shiori asked, frowning at Hitomi's eyeroll. Hey, she was tuned out, not not paying attention. "I just don't get arguments. They linger on things too long, everyone's really upset or angry afterwards, and almost never do people actually change their opinions," she declared, before tuning out again.

Hitomi didn't bother responding, easily proving both of their points. They sat in silence, before Hitomi sighed. "There's a set of chemical encyclopedias in that locked cabinet." Shiori grinned broadly at the prospect of Hitomi giving in (as her friend no doubt did not trust her with the expensive boos), before toning it down at Hitomi's glare as she tossed her a key.

Easily Shiori plucked a random encyclopedia off the shelf, before turning to a random page and beginning to read. Hitomi easily turned back to her experiment and tried to achieve something (Shiori didn't ask). They continued this way in silence for a while(for which Hitomi was grateful, as she didn't want to spill potentially dangerous chemicals  
on herself), punctuated only by murmured curses and yawns followed by interested noises.

**oOo**

"Sorry for being so late, Tsukino," a boy with thick glasses apologized. Shiori had looked up at the masculine voice, figuring it must have been the elusive Inui-senpai. She was correct. "Tennis practice ran over..." This was about the point Inui looked up, noticing Shiori. "Oh. Shiori Matsushima, correct?"

Shiori blinked, glancing over to Hitomi, who just nodded in a "I-told-you-so" sort of way. "Uhm, yes?" Shiori replied questioningly. Hitomi wasn't kidding when she said he had data on a lot of people.

"Now, what are you doing here? I assume you aren't here to join the chemistry club," Inui remarked, carefully placing his tennis bag on the floor and a burlap sack on the table. Hitomi grinned and jumped at it, wildly wrangling with it.

"I was wondering if you could tell me anything about a boy named Kiyosumi Sengoku?" she asked hopefully. After all, it was doubtful he did; he was one boy out of thousands. Besides, what happened to privacy?

Inui blinked, seeming a bit curious about her request. Making a split second decision, he conjured a magic notebook from nowhere (she didn't see where it came from, anyways) and flipped to a page.

"Kiyosumi Sengoku," he recited, his voice plain and robotic. "Yamabuki Junior High School. Class 3-3, number 14. November 25th. 170 cm. 59 kg. Blood typ-"

"Okay, that's good, thank you," Shiori replied hastily noting the most important part: Yamabuki. Hitomi had come up victorious in her fight, her hair slightly dishelved as she gnawed on a bright green apple. "If I may ask, how do you know all of this?"

Inui blinked again, but this time in a "do-you-seriously-not-know-this" sort of way (then again, Shiori couldn't actually tell with his insanely reflective and thick glasses). "He is, well was, I suppose, the ace on the Yamabuki tennis team. I researched him for it."

"He plays tennis?" Shiori gaped. Inui's curiosity was suddenly peaked, at this odd girl who seemed to only know of Sengoku's name. Conclusions and hypotheses quickly floating through his head, he held up his notebook and asked, "How do you know Sengoku?"

He was too late however, as Shiori was already flying out the door. "Thank you for the information Inui-senpai!" she shouted with a quick bow, before waving bye to Hitomi and quickly jogging out.

Inui shook his head. He was hoping to find out some more about Sengoku. Turning around to hopefully get some information from Hitomi about her friend, the thought dropped from his head as he sighed. "Hitomi, I've told you not to take my apples; I need them."

Hitomi just took another bite and gave a wide grin.

**oOo**

Shiori hummed offkey, in a very good mood as she strolled into the gym. Several people looked up at her arrival; regulars even waving hello which she returned. She had gotten a lot more information than she had hoped for. She would investigate Yamabuki tomorrow but that was for another day.

"Hi, dad!" Shiori chirped brightly to her father, who was observing a boxing match.

"Oh, hello, Shiori!" her dad quickly gave her a one armed hug, before asking, "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Nothing," Shiori replied, because that was the default answer for any parent questions.

"Well okay," her dad replied, not convinced but satisfied. Quickly, he moved onto another topic. "Anyways, Sengoku came by here today. He seemed sort of disappointed you weren't here."

"...What."

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**Disclaimer: Don't own Prince of Tennis. Reviews are wonderful. Thanks. **


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